My restaurant column for the Daily Pilot discovers and re-discovers fun places to eat in Newport/Costa Mesa with a focus on dog friendly places!

I haven’t written a Barbara’s Bits & Bites for a while, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t had my eye out for interesting places to dine.

Now that the Daily Pilot has broadened its scope of coverage, I recently ventured to Huntington Beach to try a neighborhood Italian restaurant that I’d been hearing buzz about, as it cooks with hemp-infused flour.

In an age when chefs are cooking with unconventional items like ground cricket flour, which is high in protein, vitamins and minerals, hemp didn’t sound that strange as a mainstream cooking ingredient.

Is hemp healthy?

Apparently so, but if you think you’re going to get high while sprinkling hemp seeds on your salad, or baking and cooking with hemp flour, think again.

To give you some background, seeds of the hemp plant — cannabis sativa — won’t get you high, but they are a great source of healthy fats and essential fatty acids and protein. They are rich with Vitamin E, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, magnesium, sulfur, calcium, iron and zinc.

Because they contain omega-6 and omega-3s, hemp oil is also being used for skin treatments, and there are benefits for the circulatory and immune systems, according to WebMD.Ground seeds are used to make milk, oil and flour, and judging from the number of hemp cookbooks on the market, eating healthfully with hemp is a growing trend.

Canapa Farms has jumped on the bandwagon.

The whole thing intrigued me. I was eager for a taste test. The restaurant has a dog-friendly, outdoor-covered patio and ample parking.

The interior has a cozy, rustic, cottage-like atmosphere. It’s a great little local Italian joint, and the Sunday night I was there was packed with families.

There were several video monitors on the walls touting the health benefits and nutritional facts of hemp.

Pastas and pizzas can be ordered with or without hemp-infused flour. We, of course, went for the hemp products.

I had the Mama Mia, $14, with penne hemp pasta, sun dried tomatoes, chicken and artichoke hearts in a homemade tomato sauce, and it was delicious. I can honestly say I didn’t notice a taste difference from regular pasta. But I will say later that I didn’t have the bloated-stuffed feeling I usually have after eating pasta.

You can also create your own pasta dishes, $10, choosing from capellini, fettuccine, penne rigatoni and spaghetti, and pair it with marinara, Alfredo, vodka, bolognese and creamy pesto sauces.

They offer a wide variety of pizzas, $8 to $18, depending on size and toppings.

We tried a small mushroom pizza, which was quite good.

The Italian sausage and roasted peppers with penne, $13, was another solid choice.

Our server was friendly and helpful in answering questions, and open to customizing dishes to our tastes.

Canapa Farms offers a Classic Cannoli, $5, Lemmon Chello Cake, $6, New York Cheesecake, $6, Spumoni ice cream, $5, and Tiramisu, $7, as well as Crème Brule and Chocolate cake, $6. We tried the cheesecake and Tiramisu — both were amazing.

Open for about a year now, reservations are a good idea since the place is popular, and word is spreading. Order online for carryout or delivery.

Canapa Farms is open for dinner and lunch. Hours are 4 to 9 p.m. Sundays; 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4 to 9 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays; 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4 to 10 p.m. Fridays; and 4 to 10 p.m. Saturdays.

Lately my focus has been on the local political scene, preparing for the upcoming Feet to the Fire, where Tom Johnson and I will interview Newport Beach City Council candidates Aug. 17 and Costa Mesa council candidates Aug. 18 at Orange Coast College.

I've had a belly full of politics, so this week I'm switching gears to Barbara's Bits & Bites, continuing to discover and rediscover fun places to eat locally.

Italian food is a favorite, and there are plenty of good places in our area.

Stasha the Wonder Dog and I have three favorites close to us — Sgt. Pepperoni's Pizza Store, Onotria Wine Country Cuisine and North Italia.

Sgt. Pepperoni's Pizza Store

Sgt. Pepperoni's is at 2300 S.E. Bristol St., Newport Beach. We take out here, since it doesn't have a pet-friendly patio.

The place is tucked away in a small, nondescript strip center between Birch Street and Jamboree Road.

When it comes to pizza, I'm a tough critic. I'm a native New Yorker, but Sgt. Pepperoni's pizza is probably as close to N.Y. pizza as I've had in Orange County.

The place doesn't have the greatest street signage so it's easy to miss. When you do find it, enter the driveway and travel to the back of the building for valet parking and the restaurant entrance.

The interior is bright and cheerful, with a wine country vibe.

It's a good-size place with a couple of private rooms for intimate gatherings.

The staff goes out of its way to be friendly and engaging. Every server we've had here has had a winning personality that added to our dining experience.

Specializing in traditional farm-to-table Italian cuisine, "all food products are 100% natural hormone-free, antibiotic-free and of the highest quality of organic and biodynamic seasonal offerings," according to the restaurant's website, onotria.com.

Two of my pasta favorites are rigatoni with San Marzano tomato sauce, garlic, basil, extra virgin olive oil ($18) and the orecchiette with roasted garlic, pork sausage in a rapine pesto with Pecorino cheese ($16).

The food menu is extensive, including fish, poultry and meat entrees such as Veal Sausage Cassoulet with white cabbage and cannellini beans ($22) and a half chicken, brick-pressed and seasoned with a mustard, lemon and garlic sauce ($26).

Lunch and dinner reservations are suggested and can be made at opentable.com or (714) 641-5952.

North Italia

The newest Italian place I've added to my list, North Italia, is in a shopping center right before the 405 Freeway at 2957 Michelson Drive, Irvine.

I usually avoid this center because parking is so difficult, but there's valet parking for North Italia.

The restaurant has a large outdoor dog-welcoming patio, and the food is quite good.

The interior is light and airy, but the noise is a bit loud when the place is crowded, which it usually is.

On my quest to discover and rediscover fun restaurants in Newport Beach and Costa Mesa, this month I was eager to try the new Ritz Prime Seafood, 2801 W. Coast Highway on Mariners Mile in Newport Beach.

I'd been a fan of the iconic Ritz restaurant in Fashion Island for many years.

I'd also followed the saga of its closing since the beginning in 2011 when it lost its lease, won an extension in 2013, and then finally closed in February 2014 with the promise the Ritz would rise again and be given new life by the company Grill Concepts.

So has it?

Not by a long shot.

The only thing similar between this new place and the old restaurant is the Ritz logo on the building. That's where the similarity begins and ends.

She wasn't crazy about it and explained to Chef Ryan the menu description was a bit misleading. She hadn't expected chopped, tiny pieces of short ribs.

I loved the Lighthouse, hated the parking. Spots are plentiful, but paying is a real pain. Here's a tip — take a picture of your license plate when leaving the car. It'll save you a frustrated walk back later. You'll need it for the pay station process, which is cumbersome.

On a touch screen you have to choose a language, enter your plate number, bypass another screen if you don't have a coupon, and choose how many hours to pay for, then insert a credit card in the reader.

I had to do this twice before it read my card, and so did the gal after me.

If you mess up any of these stages, you go right back to the first screen.

Two hours cost me $3.50

I watched others navigating the pay station. Everyone seemed to be experiencing some angst with this; language was colorful.

The city needs to rethink its program here before the summer crowds roll in.

BARBARA VENEZIA lives in Newport Beach. She can be reached atbvontv1@gmail.com. Listen to her weekly radio segment on "Sunday Brunch with Tom and Lynn" from 11 a.m. to noon on KOCI/101.5 FM.